Portable golf ball cleaner



March 23, 1954 s ALLEN 2,672,637

PORTABLE GOLF BALL CLEANER Filed Feb. 13, 1948 INVENTOR. ZfiZ{{5.5. AMLE/v MAW/ aw a uu/ Patented Mar. 23, 1954 PORTABEEZGELE. BA'ItL LhuisSiiAlln, Alekandriaeyal. ApplicatiomFebimany 13, 1948;?S'eriahN6r8Jl9 LClaima (CLQlEsw-Iliflt This. invention utelaftesagenerahyeatogzdeyicestfor cleaning: olf.ballsand imore'particularly to such airdewicehwhiohsis*constructedrand-adapted-tome mounted onua golf club .bag whereby ita maysbe carriediWi-th:theiplaycr foru e t.a1=l:times;:'.

Portablerballcleaners ofthe described typelhave heretofore'beem-pmDosembutiinone zofwtherknow-n deuicesshave wprovedsjto:rber zsatisfactory and.rfor that:reasonlhayetnot been widely; used. By *this inventionwl have prflvided anball. fcleaner: which may-ibe easilyiand quloklyrmountedon a golfbag or detacheditherefrolmt which is:constr.uctedland arranged totbe, mounted;;.on. a gclf..-bag ;in-..suchv .a waygthat the cleaning elements are positioned for quick'and 'efli'tiient 'use, and which includes a combination of cleaningandscnubbing elements causing quick"*and thorough" claning of the ball. In one embodiment of -"the -=invention,* means are provided for imparting mechanical action-tothe cleanin s and scrubbing elements ;wherebyrthezadvantages of the usual. and knowm'fixedtypeball cleanerspvwhich are usually; located atrzthe tee, are embodiedin a portable ball cleanen t Iniconnection with this embodiment, the inventionzalso providesaneans for holding the-iball fixed-,zzwhile the mechanical cleaningandgscrubbingzmeans. is moved oven it.

Other objects. .and..featurescoflnovelty of the invention willb'e made'apparent by the following description and the annexed drawings whichyitj will berunderstood, .areionly illustrativeoof the inventien n .imposemo 'zli'mitations thereon not imposedcby theappendedhlalmir.

Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference numerals refer to like parts,

Fig. 1 is a sectional view, taken on line ll of Fig. 2, of a ball cleaning device according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the ball cleaning device shown in section in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a golf ball cleaning device according to the invention mounted on a, golf bag; and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the device for attaching the cleaner to a bag. .31,

The preferred form of my invention disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4 comprises a body part 2 which has a semi-circular end 4 and a straight or fiat end B. A circular recess 8 is formed within this body and opens outwardly through one wall thereof. This recess is somewhat larger in diameter than a usual golf ball and may have a depth approximately equal to the radius on such a ball. Within this recess andextending radially into it from the surrounding wall area plurality offlexlble, stiff scrubbing elements I!) which pref- 2:." a y take ztheiormibfi ru b r cylinders. ontrunv catedconese; Thesezareimleferably formed in-cir; cumferential rowsy three such5rows being disclosed imithezdrawingsua In: a .preferred "form ,of; the

inventiongthe elements l mof each circumferential 'rowtare'ofythezsame height; and are of. less.heigh. th'arrtthesnexteinwardzrowrv Becausel-ofthiszcon 'stnuctiona the scrubbing: surfacetformed bythe :bing-;e1ements.:l ll willbe compressedrand-deformed and will'wthereforevexert prgessureiagainsttthetsunface not: :therr ball. As eclearly illustrated in the drawings, all of the scrubbing elements In maybe fqmiedionzamatzsheet .ofirrubber IZ-whichmay be inserted; ringthashapeqof? atcylinderginto the opening 8 :where rit will; closely; fimhacylindrical. surfacegfl 4: of; thensurrounding and enclosing ewall. An inturnedalipvonrflange .-.--l 6 imay berformed' on thercasing d and willpverlie theedgeeofthe rub,-

- ber-Nsheet; I 2;?Whent117 1818331635.1111 ppsitionwinuthe opening. It will be apparentthat ithe'scrubbing elements may be formed of aemater-laltotherthan I rubbenand if fdesined-, may'be bristlesr Within ithfililECESShflxM-id associated. with the scrnbbingt'elementsi-J 0 use -cleaning,,element -20 which. in .the .preferredoform. of: the invention, is atsponges. This;.spon e preferably-has; the same shape-asstheerecessr8 andt-iseof:suchsizes that. .it substantially covers the bottom of the recess, with its peripheral portion 22 under the last row I00 of scrubbing elements, whereby the sponge will be firmly held in place. The sponge is of such thickness that when the golf ball is pressed into the recess 8, the sponge will be compressed, thereby releasing to the surface of the golf ball any water or cleaning fluid which may be held by the sponge. In a preferred form of the invention the sponge 20 is impregnated with a dry detergent material which is made active by the addition of water. This impregnation may be effected, before assembly of the sponge with other .parts of the ball cleaner, by soaking the sponge in a detergent liquid and then baking until the sponge is dry, leaving the detergent material in the sponge.

As stated, the surface 6 of the casing or body member 2 is fiat and on this flat surface there is positioned and attached, as by screws 26, a plate 28 which is preferably co-extensive with the sur- -face 6. Cleaning or polishing members 30, which may be bristles, are attached to plate 28 and ex- ,tend outwardly therefrom, providing means whereby the ball may be polished. Obviously, the polishing members 30 may be attached directly to the casing 2 over the surface 6, thereby eliminating the extra plate 28.

Means are provided by the invention for tightly, resiliently and releasably attaching the ball cleanng device to the upper edge of the wall of a golf ag 40. Such means comprise a spring metal clip member 46 having one extremity positioned between the plate 28 and body 2 and the opposedv extremity thereof being free and normally in resilient contact with the rear face 48 of the body member. A handle and operating member 50 is pivotally attached to th lower end of clip 46 and may be moved to a position in which the upper end thereof extends above the clip 48, whereby the operating member may be employed to force the polishing elements 30 will face upwardly, thus providing a convenient means for scrubbing, cleaning and polishing the golf ball. This will be done by pressing the ball into the recess 8 and moving and rotating the ball against the scrubbing elements It! and the sponge 28 untii it is cleaned. The bristles 39 may be used as supplemental or separate means for polishing the ball. a

While I hav described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, as well as modifications of that disclosed, may be made without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be mad to the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A portable golf ball cleaning device comprising, a body member formed of a plurality of sections, one of said sections having a circular recess therein opening outwardly to provide a circular opening in one side wall of said body member, the opposed side wall of said body member providing a bottom for said recess, a plurality of flexible stiff interior scrubbing members extending radially into said recess from the surrounding cylindrical side wall of said recess and being of increasing length from the opening of said recess inwardly, the said interior scrubbing members being composed of rubber protuberances formed integrally with a flat rubber sheet which lines the cylindrical side wall of said recess, a detergent impregnated sponge member within said recess having its peripheral edge in contact with and held between the innermost interior scrubbing members and the bottom wall of said recess whereby to retain said sponge member at the bottom of said recess, the said interior scrubbing members being of such radial extent and the said sponge being of such thickness that both are compressed and deformed by a golf ball pressed into said recess whereby the surface of the ball when rotated in said recess may be scrubbed and cleaned; another of said body member sections being removably secured to said one body member section, a spring clip means for attaching the de- 'vice to a golf bag or the like, the said spring clip attaching means having opposed extremities, one of said extremities being frictionally held between said one and another body member sections and the other of said extremities being free and normally in contact with an exterior side wall portion of said body member, and exterior scrubbing members carried on an outer surface of said another body member section for alternative use with said interior scrubbing members.

LOUIS S. ALLEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 389,296 Greeley Sept. 11, 1888 1,614,914 Boeckh Jan. 18, 1927 1,710,816 Evans Apr. 30, 1929 1,758,011 Reach May 13, 1930 1,838,958 Page Dec. 29, 193. 1,889,809 Nielsen Dec. 6, 1932 1,950,318 McNab Mar. 6, 1934 2,369,881 Berns et al Feb. 20, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 8,283 Great Britain of 1896 12,853 Great Britain of 1998 416,643 Great Britain Sept. 18, 1934 

